Audio Fiction Friday: Review - Something's Amiss at Juniper's House

by: Hannah Wright

Disclosure: Though I have done work directing and producing for Bloody FM’s The Dead and Re: Dracula and worked with many of these actors before, I am not affiliated with the show discussed in this review.

Romance is mortifying. Take it from someone who is chronically weird, and constantly aware of that fact; or maybe you don’t need to take my word for it, because you’re also weird, and lowkey convinced love just isn’t for you. Not just romance, either, any love or affection. (Shoutout to the aromantics.)

So it is with the deepest satisfaction that I find the introductory episodes of Something’s Amiss at Juniper’s House starting off with the cringiest and most socially accessible sort of horror: the mortifying ordeal of a crush on someone who’s much cooler than you. And that’s before the swearing child dragging a body bag even shows up.

The newest addition to Bloody FM’s roster of audio dramas, Something’s Amiss at Juniper’s House presents us with Finley, a boring, anxious college kid who loves long walks and journaling. Much of the narration is from their journal, and it is through this medium and perspective that the titular Juniper is introduced, a fascinating dream girl who likes good coffee and hates—hates—being bored.

Uh oh, Finley. Or should we say Fin? That’s what Juniper calls them.

The writer and lead of Something’s Amiss is Kayla Temshiv. I’ve had the great privilege of working with them before as their director, and it is beyond fun watching them inhabit a character they created in Finley. They also seem to have recruited the entire talented cast of Hemophobia, to great effect. Brooke Jennett is killer in Hemophobia, but I know her work best from the anthology show Thirteen. She brings all the natural gravity of the narrator to the titular Juniper; after all, Juniper is a girl with major main character energy. Even this early in the show, it’s easy to see the dynamic Temshiv and Jennett are building, of a romance unbalanced by insecurity on one side and self-focus on the other.

This imbalance is further deepened by a story beat that’s so far only illustrated in sound design. Juniper can apparently command people to do things, regardless of their will. Or…maybe she can just command Finley. The sound design coming from Finley’s perspective specifically makes it hard to tell. Add to this tidbit the earthquakes that have been shaking this small town, the somewhat random disappearances of local men, and the isolation and secrecy surrounding Juniper’s family. It’s a heck of a mystery. (Why is it that Juniper and the members of her household only say “oh my gods,” plural?) 

It’s the layers of horror that really intrigue me about Something’s Amiss. Episode one suggests a college slasher of some variety, perhaps one with a Jennifer’s Body-style supernatural power at play, but presenting Finley and Juniper’s houses as foils—Finley’s silent house, whose only other inhabitant is her sick and so far unspeaking mother, verses Juniper’s busy, loud house full of boisterous personalities with mysterious affectations—suggests the gothic. The earthquakes too, are a little gothic, as if the town itself is turning against its inhabitants, but there’s also some suggestion of environmental horror or maybe even fantasy horror at play.

There is also, of course, the creepy twelve-year-old Etta, played to great and terrible effect by Hannah Schooner, and gods only know what her deal is.

That’s not nearly all there is to love about this show. Bloody FM’s audio dramas occasionally suffer from stilted dialogue editing, thin sound design, or a theatrical stiffness in acting; Something’s Amiss has no such problems. Sound Designer Dustin Parsons brings a rich and natural sound design to the show (and some excellent direction, if the acting is any indication). It’s entirely seamless, especially in those gorgeous little moments where Finley is by themself, microwaving dinner or humming a variation on the theme song or talking to their unspeaking mother. The only empty spots are left there on purpose, to great effect.

Speaking of the theme song, I’m also a sucker for an excellent theme, and bringing on Mattie roi Berger, the composer behind Fall of the House of Sunshine, was a stroke of genius. I have to point out that by the end of the second episode, we have several variations of the theme song, all of which sound entirely different from each other, two of which are diegetic. And they all slap. Why aren’t we all doing diegetic music in audio drama all the time? It adds so much.

This is not to say it’s a perfect show. Some of the writing is a little too self-aware, winking at the audience. The fifteen or so seconds of Juniper and Finley in episode two repeating “fuck ice” ad nauseum was tedious, whether it’s a genuine diatribe against frozen water or a smug little nod to Temshiv’s feelings about the deeply unpopular and fascistic Immigration & Customs Enforcement. The self-awareness of the writing could be a problem in a show that builds the first two episodes almost entirely on flirting, but in that context it actually works better—that same self-awareness plays into the intense anxiety of Finley and the over-focused selfishness of Juniper to emphasize those characteristics. It’s only when the writing tries to be cute that it misses the mark.

To talk about how the writing shines, though—I am writing this review after the release of the third episode, “The Day I Went to Juniper’s House,” which pulls the trigger on a veritable Chekov’s gun of a character, Mason Amadeus’ Wyatt. Ah, Wyatt. Bearer of a well-meaning but totally unrequited crush on Finley. The complicating factor that is Wyatt’s concern—his ham-handed, vaguely misogynistic, not as trans-affirming as he thinks concern—says much about who Finley is, and how they’re changing. Finley is so much more confident in episode three than one; funny how love can be, eh? But Juniper sees a bunch of texts from Wyatt and misconstrues his frenetic insecurity for Finley’s, and tells them to leave. (She doesn’t command them, notably, but Finley still graciously complies.) If Wyatt is the first plot payoff we receive, I’m looking forward to seeing what other crumbs Temshiv’s left for us that will become full meals.

Seriously, why do Juniper and her cohabitants only say “oh my gods?”

Something’s Amiss at Juniper’s House is a slow-building horror flavored like a romance, with stupendous acting and directing, excellent sound design, and a plot that’s thickening like last night’s oatmeal. Whether Juniper will stay entertained by ordinary Finley remains to be seen, but I for one am not bored. Highly recommend this show.